Sacramento home real estate still bounding, at a slower rate

Although the Sacramento Business Journal recently reported that home price growth is slowing in Sacramento, Sacramento County still marks steady gains in values at a more sustainable pace. Over 2013, Sacramento home values increased at the highest rate in the nation year-over-year, with home price increases nearing 33%. Some experts feared that the rapid increase in values last year might have been the start of a small real estate bubble in our county that would lead to later problems when the market crashed. The fact that this growth has slowed, but not stagnated, may actually be a positive sign for the overall health of our local economy.

In recent years, Sacramento has gained a reputation for having a strong foreclosure market, so large numbers of homes in our area were sold at cut-rate prices. As the economy begins to recover, fewer homes are foreclosed upon and, therefore, fewer homes are available on the market. This gives an obvious advantage to sellers as a lack of inventory enables sellers to ask for higher prices for available homes.

For those seeking to move into the Sacramento real estate market and purchase a home, this is not all bad news. Both interest rates and unemployment have dropped in our area recently, giving more purchasing power to potential buyers.